Thursday, June 6, 2013

******************************************************************************* Updated information - Dec 11, 2013 ************ Check new Maximum for VR 5.5 ****** *************************************************************************vSphere Replication is a replication engine
feature provided by VMware that allows data replication from one storage to
another, since it does not depend on array base replication technology, you can
use it to replicate data between storages from different vendors even using host’s
local datastore.

Since the release of vSphere 5.1, this
feature is built-in on the majority of the vCenter’s licese, just vSphere
Essentials does not contain this feature.

So it’s a lot less expensive solution for
data replication. It’s FREE, indeed.

To eliminate any doubt that might exist,
these data replicated are the virtual machines disks (VMDK).

The companies are using it on several ways.

- Building disaster recovery site.

- Migration from datastores.

- Migration to new datacenters.

- Creating a backup copy of a VM.

You might remember that starting with SRM5.0, vSphere Replication was part of it and it still there.

If necessary, you can deploy multiple vSphere Replication servers to
balance the replication load across your virtual infrastructure.

To meet the load balancing needs of your environment, you might need
to deploy additional vSphere Replication servers at each site.

Very confusing , right ?

Can I or Cannot I deploy multiple
vSphere Replication Servers ?

I believe part of that
misunderstanding is a lack of identification of product’s names, Even dough the
feature is the same, the product itself changes, depending where you deploy it
from.

From now on, I will call the vSphere
Replication that you deploy direct on the vCenter, without the SRM, as vSphere
Replication Stand Alone and the one you deploy through SRM the Embedded vSphere
Replication.

Let’s go to the differences:

vSphere Replication Stand Alone: You
can deploy just ONE on each vCenter instance and it will allows you to handle
at a maximum of 500 VMs.

Embedded vSphere Replication:
You can deploy up to 10 vSphere Replication Servers (always through SRM
interface), while the maximum of VMs replicated still at 500 VMs, in this case, each vSphere Replication can handle at a maximum
of 100 VMs. So, to support 500 VMs replicated you would need to deploy 5 Embedded vSphere Replication servers.

What if I already have vSphere
Replication Stand Alone installed and replicating VMs and then install SRM ?

SRM will recognize the VMs replicated
and will use them as base for protection groups and recovery plans, but the
Stand Alone limits will need to be respected. If you want to deploy more
vSphere Replication Servers, uninstall the Stand Alone version and start
deploying the new ones from SRM, in this situation the limits are the ones from
Embedded vSphere Replication.

Who am I

I’m an IT specialist with over 15 years of experience, working from IT infrastructure to management products, troubleshooting and project management skills from medium to large environments.
Nowadays I'm working for VMware as a Consulting Architect, helping customers to embrace the Cloud Era and make them successfully on their journey.
Despite the fact I'm a VMware employee these postings reflect my own opinion and do not represents VMware's position, strategies or opinions.
Reach me at @dumeirell